AGNOSTIC VALIDATION TEST BENCH FOR EFUSE CONNECTIVITY VERIFICATION By CHAN WEI JIAN A Dissertation submitted for partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science (Microelectronic Engineering) August 2017 Acknowledgement This research has given me an opportunity to strengthen my technical depth in validation field which helps me to perform better in my daily work and advance in my career. Throughout this research, I’ve learnt to think out of the box, be innovative and creative in resolving problems. The whole process was challenging but it was very fruitful and worthwhile. The skillset that I’ve obtained will be useful not just in work, but in non-work related things as well. I would like to express my gratitude to all USM engineering staff for this great opportunity to participate in this Master research program. Secondly, I owe a deep sense of gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nur Zatil 'Ismah Hashim, for her kindness guidance and timely suggestion to every stage of my research. Her dedication, prompt response for all my queries, and detail oriented attitude towards my work has motivated me to strive for perfection and enable me to complete my thesis. Thanks again to Dr. Zatil for all the helps and suggestions provided. Lastly, I would like to thank profusely to all colleagues and friends in my work place who have helped me in my research. They have provided useful suggestion on technical issues such as coding syntax and methodology that I’ve encountered throughout my work. This allows me to proceed further and accomplish my task. Table of Content LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. I LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... IV ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................................... V ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... VI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................1 1.1 Overview ....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Problem Statement .....................................................................................................3 1.3 Aim and Objectives ...................................................................................................5 1.4 Scope of Work ...........................................................................................................6 1.5 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................8 2.1 Verification Environment ..........................................................................................9 2.2 Device Under Test ...................................................................................................11 2.3 Semiconductor IP Block: .........................................................................................11 2.4 CPU & PCH Architecture ........................................................................................12 2.5 eFUSE Technology ..................................................................................................15 2.5.1 Evolution from Laser Fuse to Electric Fuse (Robson N. et al., 2007) ............17 2.6 Register Space ..........................................................................................................22 2.6.1 PCI Configuration Space .................................................................................23 2.6.2 PCI Memory and I/O Space ............................................................................25 2.7 Intel On Chip System Fabric (IOSF) Interface: .......................................................27 2.7.1 IOSF Primary Interface ...................................................................................30 2.7.2 IOSF Sideband Interface .................................................................................32 2.8 Current eFUSE Connectivity Validation Flow ........................................................34 2.8.1 Current Verification Method and eFUSE Connectivity Test Structure ...........36 2.9 Summary ..................................................................................................................38 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................39 3.1 Overall Research Work Flow ..................................................................................40 3.2 New eFUSE Connectivity Validation Flow .............................................................43 3.2.1 New Verification Method and eFUSE Connectivity Test Structure ...............45 3.2.2 Perl Script Format for Test Generation ...........................................................48 3.2.3 Perl Script Code Overview ..............................................................................51 3.3 Summary ..................................................................................................................56 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ..............................................................57 4.1 Results and Observation from The New eFUSE Validation Flow ..........................58 4.1.1 Validation Efficiency .......................................................................................58 4.1.2 Simulation Time ..............................................................................................61 4.1.3 eFUSE Coverage .............................................................................................65 4.2 Perl Script Discussion ..............................................................................................68 4.2.1 Automated Flow to Detect Overridden eFUSE in Verification Environment ..........................................................................................................................68 4.2.2 Automated SoC Path Discovery and Append. ................................................69 4.3 Summary ..................................................................................................................71 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK ...................................................72 5.1 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................72 5.2 Recommendation for Future Work ..........................................................................73 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................74 List of Figures Figure 2.1: OVM verification environment (Cadence Design Systems Inc, 2011) .......... 10 Figure 2.2: CPU, Northbridge and Southbridge connectivity (Laan S., 2015) ................. 13 Figure 2.3: CPU and PCH connectivity (Laan S., 2015) .................................................. 14 Figure 2.4: eFUSE connection and distribution diagram.................................................. 17 Figure 2.5: PCI Configuration space (Rusling, 1999) ...................................................... 25 Figure 2.6: Base address format for Memory and I/O space (Rusling, 1999) .................. 27 Figure 2.7: IOSF interface (US Patent No. US20140258583, 2014)................................ 30 Figure 2.8: IOSF primary interface (US Patent No. US20140258583, 2014) .................. 31 Figure 2.9: Avoton's south complex IOSF interconnects (Wasson, 2013) ....................... 32 Figure 2.10: IOSF sideband interface (US Patent No. US20140258583, 2014) .............. 33 Figure 2.11: Existing eFUSE validation flow chart .......................................................... 35 Figure 2.12: Front door read access method ..................................................................... 37 Figure 2.13: eFUSE connectivity test developed for individual IP .................................. 38 Figure 3.1: Research flow chart ........................................................................................ 42 Figure 3.2: New eFUSE validation flow chart.................................................................. 44 Figure 3.3: Backdoor read access method ........................................................................ 45 Figure 3.4: eFUSE hierarchical information example ...................................................... 47 Figure 3.5: eFUSE connectivity test is generated and consolidated ................................. 48 Figure 3.6: Perl Script input and output ............................................................................ 50 Figure 3.7: Main body of the Perl script ........................................................................... 51 Figure 3.8: parse_cmd_line subroutine ............................................................................. 52 Figure 3.9: read_rules_file subroutine .............................................................................. 53 Figure 3.10: parse_eFUSE subroutine .............................................................................